Black Adam will bring about a “new era” of DC movies according to Dwayne Johnson.
During an interview with Screen Rant, the 50-year-old actor explained how his upcoming Black Adam solo movie will change the future of the DC Universe.
“That footage is a reflection of our director’s vision, who wanted to create something that was different,” said Johnson about the new Black Adam trailer. “[Jaume Collet-Serra] wanted to create a movie that was disruptive, but he also wanted to create a movie that would start the pendulum swing in the DC universe… to usher in a new era of the DC universe.”
Black Adam is not your usual hero. Starting life as a comic book villain and nemesis of popular DC superhero Shazam! it looks as though Johnson’s portrayal of the classic DC character will veer more into antihero territory – and he says that brings DC into a new era.
“A new antihero era, a new era of tone, a new era of story, and also… It’s this incredible opportunity that we have… to just build out the DC Universe.”
Johnson's comments came just days after DC's Jim Lee suggested that the company had no plans to make more movies set in the the 'Snyderverse' – the series of Zack Snyder DC movies that culminated with Justice League. Given that Johnson has previously teased a Black Adam cinematic universe, it may be that he considers this the new continuity to follow for DC's movies.
“[We want] to build out the DC Universe with disruption, with respect, listening to the fans, because they’ll always guide you,” he added. “I was a DC kid right out of the gates. I’m still a DC kid because I’m a big ass kid – I don’t think I ever grow up. But if you look a little further past the obvious characters in the DC world, there is a cadre of so many cool characters that we look forward to highlighting and introducing to the world.”
Some of those less-obvious DC characters will debut in the upcoming Black Adam film as the DC antihero takes on the Justice Society of America, also known as the JSA.
“The JSA pre-dated the Justice League,” said Johnson. “So, there’s a lot of great characters and it feels like audiences have been really responding to our JSA and these great characters so fingers crossed.”
Want to find out more about the JSA and how they connect to Black Adam? Check out our guide to the Justice Society of America as well as who’s been cast in the ambitious DC solo movie.
Ryan Leston is an entertainment journalist and film critic for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.